Writing to Learn The act of writing involves thinking; it requires active engagement with the content. As students write, they:
construct meaning around the subject matter
make connections between the topic and themselves
discover what they know and what they do not know
Writing is a tool for learning. In fact, writing is fundamental to thinking about and inquiring knowledge in all content areas as well as communicating that knowledge. Writing to learn activities are different from essays, reports, and themes in that they are short, exploratory, and often written for an audience other than the teacher. The purpose of writing to learn activities is
to reflect on what one has learned
to develop some parameters around it
to make meaningful, personal connections between it and the writer’s personal life.
Generally, writing-to-learn activities are short, impromptu or otherwise informal writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas presented in a course. Often, these writing tasks are limited to less than five minutes of class time or are assigned as brief, out-of-class assignments. Writing to learn activities can happen frequently or infrequently in your class; some can extend over the entire semester; some can be extended to include a wide variety of writing tasks in different formats and to different audiences. Writing to learn activities do not need to add to the teacher’s paper-load because these activities do not necessarily need to be graded. Here are some writing to learn activities you might try in your classroom to help students process your content: Message to a parent or guardian Imagine your parent or guardian has asked you, “what did you learn today and how will it help you achieve your career goal(s)?”Write a brief email to answer this question. Problematic Situations Instead of having students discuss potential solutions to problematic situations, have each student write his/her own solution to the problem and then share.(i.e. a person has fallen outside during an electrical storm, how would you handle this situation; a customer has brought his/her car in for inspection. The person says the car’s steering is overly tight or overly loose. What steps would you take to diagnose and solve this problem, etc.) One-liners At the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of class, have students write down, in one sentence, the importance or relevance of something they learned in a previous lesson or during the current lesson. Analogies Creating analogies is a powerful learning tool because it requires students to use complex reasoning skills.Create a list of terms, concepts, or ideas from the current learning.Label this list “A.”Next write another list of your choosing consisting of five or six items students enjoy. (popular video games, candy bar names, professional sports teams, etc.) Label this list “B.”Explain what an analogy is and tell students they ware going to write an analogy that identifies ways in which one of the topics from list A is similar to one of the items on list B. For example: An electrical current is similar to a Pittsburgh Steeler. Once they get turned on, they are fast and powerful; if either hits you, you’re going to know it.
The act of writing involves thinking; it requires active engagement with the content. As students write, they:
- construct meaning around the subject matter
- make connections between the topic and themselves
- discover what they know and what they do not know
Writing is a tool for learning. In fact, writing is fundamental to thinking about and inquiring knowledge in all content areas as well as communicating that knowledge.Writing to learn activities are different from essays, reports, and themes in that they are short, exploratory, and often written for an audience other than the teacher. The purpose of writing to learn activities is
- to reflect on what one has learned
- to develop some parameters around it
- to make meaningful, personal connections between it and the writer’s personal life.
Generally, writing-to-learn activities are short, impromptu or otherwise informal writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas presented in a course. Often, these writing tasks are limited to less than five minutes of class time or are assigned as brief, out-of-class assignments.Writing to learn activities can happen frequently or infrequently in your class; some can extend over the entire semester; some can be extended to include a wide variety of writing tasks in different formats and to different audiences. Writing to learn activities do not need to add to the teacher’s paper-load because these activities do not necessarily need to be graded.
Here are some writing to learn activities you might try in your classroom to help students process your content:
Message to a parent or guardian
Imagine your parent or guardian has asked you, “what did you learn today and how will it help you achieve your career goal(s)?” Write a brief email to answer this question.
Problematic Situations
Instead of having students discuss potential solutions to problematic situations, have each student write his/her own solution to the problem and then share. (i.e. a person has fallen outside during an electrical storm, how would you handle this situation; a customer has brought his/her car in for inspection. The person says the car’s steering is overly tight or overly loose. What steps would you take to diagnose and solve this problem, etc.)
One-liners
At the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of class, have students write down, in one sentence, the importance or relevance of something they learned in a previous lesson or during the current lesson.
Analogies
Creating analogies is a powerful learning tool because it requires students to use complex reasoning skills. Create a list of terms, concepts, or ideas from the current learning. Label this list “A.” Next write another list of your choosing consisting of five or six items students enjoy. (popular video games, candy bar names, professional sports teams, etc.) Label this list “B.” Explain what an analogy is and tell students they ware going to write an analogy that identifies ways in which one of the topics from list A is similar to one of the items on list B. For example:
An electrical current is similar to a Pittsburgh Steeler. Once they get turned on, they are fast and powerful; if either hits you, you’re going to know it.